Over the past decade, extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) have emerged as critical mediators of intercellular communication, participating in...
Read More »Exosome-Mediated Metastasis – Communication from a Distance
Metastasis, a critical phase of tumor progression, remains a primary challenge in treating cancer and a major cause of cancer mortality. Cell-cell communication via extracellular vesicles...
Read More »An interferon-driven oxysterol-based defense against tumor-derived extracellular vesicles
Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (TEV) “educate” healthy cells to promote metastases. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that melanoma TEV downregulated type I interferon (IFN)...
Read More »Exosomes – Key mediators of metastasis and pre-metastatic niche formation
While tumour cells are classically known to communicate via direct cell-to-cell contact and the secretion of soluble protein-based factors such as cytokines and growth factors, alternative novel mechanisms that promote tumour progression have recently emerged. Now, new critical components of ...
Read More »Function of extracellular vesicle-associated miRNAs in metastasis
Extracellular RNA (exRNA) is functionally transferrable from donor to recipient cells and is protected from RNAses by electrostatic interactions with proteins or by membrane encapsulation. In addition to bioactive RNA, extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain intraluminal and membrane-associated proteins. The cellular ...
Read More »Exosomes – Potential in Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy
Exosomes are membrane-bound, intercellular communication shuttles that are defined by their endocytic origin and size range of 30-140 nm. Secreted by nearly all mammalian cell types and present in myriad bodily fluids, exosomes confer messages between cells, proximal and distal, ...
Read More »Exosome purification from cell culture, and fresh and frozen plasma
In the last decades, several studies demonstrated that the tumor microenvironment is a critical determinant not only of tumor progression and metastasis, but also of resistance to therapy. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles of endocytic origin, which contain mRNAs, DNA ...
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